To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis

Author uses Atticus teach these lessons through his wise words. Atticus teaches these lessons to not only the audience, but Jem and Scout too. Some of the main things he teaches his kids about are understanding people, using the mind instead of the body, the cruel reality of stereotypes, and true

The intriguing novel, To Kill A Mockingbird is written by the prestigious author Harper Lee. Lee has utilised the lifestyle and attitudes towards ‘African-Americans" in the 1930's to create a novel which presents the reader with Lee's attitudes and values. The dominant reading of the novel is focused on the issues of racial prejudice, but there are also a number of other alternative and oppositional readings. Examples of this are the Marxist and feminist readings which can be applied to the text.

“It's right hard to say," she said. "Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks' talk at home it'd be out of place, wouldn't it? Now what if I talked white-folks' talk at church, and with my neighbors? They'd think I was puttin' on airs to beat Moses, "But Cal, you know better," I said. “It's not necessary to tell all you know. It's not ladylike—in the second place, folks don't like to have somebody around knowing more than they do. It aggravates 'em. You're not gonna change

Harper Lee’s Novel To Kill a Mockingbird details the life of young Scout Finch and brother Jem Finch, who is growing up in a time of racial uniqueness. Jem and Scout Finch are what most would call a typical family growing up in the small Alabama town of Maycomb. They encounter many different obstacles during their childhood missions with many characters making the novel an interesting read. Throughout the book, Lee is showing Jem and Scout grow up and become mature young adults. This novel, written by Harper Lee, demonstrates the themes of growing up, Innocence and most importantly, racism.

To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee, 1960), an insightful and gripping novel composed by Harper Lee in 1960. Originating in Alabama South America, based during The Great Depression. This didactic novel highlights the controversy of racism, dominant discourses and social inequality through the storyline of young ‘Scout’ who has grown up with these prominent social issues in her everyday life. Scout finds herself having to find a new perspective as her father takes on the risky case of defending a wrongly accused African American man of rape.

“Its a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 103). This familiar statement expresses the meaning of the word mockingbird that is in the title of the novel. Arousingly touching the hearts of others, Harper Lee displays the innocence of a mockingbird and people who compare to a mockingbird. Maycomb county, a fictional setting in the book where innocent people were accused of wrongdoings and sometimes punished for crimes they did not commit or things they could not help. In To Kill a Mocking, Harper Lee used symbolism to compare Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Jem Finch to a mockingbird.

Mayella Ewell is an abused young woman in Maycomb, Alabama who accused an African American man Tom Robinson of rape during the Great Depression in the early 1930’s. Mayella took advantage of the Jim Crow laws so she could end the mental and physical abuse her father caused. Since Mayella is white and female, she has power. Although she lives behind a dumpster this still provides a significant amount of power for her. In the book “To Kill A Mockingbird” Harper Lee shows Mayella’s power for class during the trial.

Prejudice, an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed without knowledge, thought, or reasoning based off of people’s racial, social, religious or ethnic group. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there were many different things that Jem and Scout learned about ways that their town is prejudice, and how it impacted the town as a whole. Scout wasn’t able to notice it as much as Jem because she was younger, so Jem tried to teach it to Scout, but it didn’t always work. Since this book was taking place in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression, there were more families that were affected than others with how they were living. Their father, Atticus, decided to take one of the toughest trials that Maycomb had ever seen, and that helped create more of a separation between the people over time. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, prejudice showed that it can separate groups of people within a town. This is shown through race, class, and gender.

The Influence of Setting on Themes and Events in To Kill A Mockingbird Vs. A Time to Kill

Furthermore, Jem learns the inherent value of human life through the trial of innocent Tom Robinson. When the story first opens, Jem and Scout have little regard for the value of life. This is shown when the trio of best friends halt their fool’s heaven plays to turn to a real, but just as exciting, topic: the mysterious monster with hands forever stained red because he ate vermin raw: Boo Radley. The numerous rumors that swirled around the hidden man were mind candy for the best friends. Before long, Dill has challenged Jem and Scout to try to get Boo to come out of his “haunted” home. While Dill ponders the best way to lure Boo Radley out of his dark shell, Jem puzzles over how to make him come out. He says, “It’s kinda like making a turtle come out...put a flame underneath it…you don’t know what hurts it…” This shows his indifference to what the turtle feels, believing that a turtle’s senses and feelings must surely be duller and less important than his, even believing the turtle’s pain was no

For as long as humans have thrived in a society, the diversity and variety within ourselves is the main culprit of our international division. As humans, we tend to try and separate from those who are different from ourselves in expectancy of a better world to live in. The division will not bring this tranquil idea into reality, but rather prejudice and destruction among ourselves. The key to a world of positivity and peace is through the act of accepting others and their differences. People should almost always accept others and their differences in order to create a unified community and strengthen their relationships with one another. However, the only exception is when acceptance will result in harm towards others.

Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird is a compelling story about innocence, justice, and morals. Often times, the characters Jean Louise (Scout), Tom Robinson, and Atticus are the majority of focus because they are a large part of the novel, but what about Jem? At the start of the novel, Jem is 9 years old and it ends with him being 13. Over the course of the book, Jem shows a large amount of growth and maturity by expounding his understanding of bravery, being an example to Scout, and standing up for what he believes in.

Scout is the character that has one of the most interesting personality in To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee because she is curious, has good comprehension and is open-minded. Scout who is the main character in To Kill A Mockingbird lives in a time and place where racism is a heavy part of society. A time where people looked at African Americans and automatically establish them as a white women rapist and a lesser person than the whites. This racial inequality also transfers to the courtroom where legal matters are attended to which, can cause unfair trials. This description describes Maycomb, Scout’s hometown, word for word, as a local trial where an African American by the name Tom Robinson life is on the line and unfortunately the jury is the people of Maycomb. When Scout gets involved it causes her to change her perspective of the world. So in general, Scout is Curious, Open-Minded and has a good comprehension that develops through To Kill A Mockingbird.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel about the injustices that part of society faced in the 1930’s. Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird to show that there are many people who can not achieve justice and fairness. Justice is the idea of behaving accordingly to what one believes is morally correct. This means that what is just to one person may not be just to another. Fair is the idea of being in the accordance of standards. This could mean social standards rather than the law itself. Because justice and fairness were non-existent for part of society in the 1930’s, Harper Lee used Scout and Atticus to convey the ideas of the people who believed that everybody deserved justice.

Harper Lee uses her novel to teach us important lessons from the characters presented in To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus, a fair and moral character, whose parenting style is unique, lined with honest and example, teaches us to follow his ways. Scout, an innocent girl who teaches us what’s important in life. Tom Robinson, someone who is ostracized for being African American, can teach us the importance of equal treatment and awakens us to our surrounding society. Lee’s construction of characters gives us perspective to issues in our society today, how they still matter and what we can learn from the novel such as compassion, justice and understanding.